THE OPIOID CRISIS: New challenges to addiction treatment

February 21, 2019 11:26 am

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) – There is a high demand for addiction treatment in Fall River. A year ago we checked in with workers at SSTAR, a treatment center that at the time could only offer a detox bed to 1 in 5 patients.

They’re continuing to try and meet that demand in their triage-like center. But over the last year there have been new challenges and that statistic hasn’t changed.

The CEO of SSTAR says in the past year the opioid epidemic has gotten scarier. Fentanyl is complicating things causing a spike in overdoses and making it harder to bring people back with narcan.

There is a constant revolving door at SSTAR. On one hand it’s a good thing, recovering addicts returning day after day for outpatient care. But on the other it means people still desperately need help as the opioid epidemic persists in southeastern Massachusetts.

“It hasn’t changed the demand is still up. I think the one thing that has changed that has become more apparent is the use of fentanyl. Patients are now citing that fentanyl is their drug of choice. So it’s gotten worse, it’s gotten more scary, it’s a really difficult time,” says Nancy Paull the CEO of SSTAR.

A year ago they were seeing a decline in drug overdoses, fentanyl has changed that.

“We had one in our waiting room the other day. The trouble with fentanyl is that it’s so strong it takes more medication to bring someone back,” says Paull.

The flow of patients in and out of the center has remained steady. They’re still managing the everyday demand with their open access center, which is something like a triage unit for addicts. The facility is so forward–thinking that it’s getting national attention.

“Blue Cross Blue Shield is developing a cohort of people who want to learn how to develop open access and they will be bringing them here we’ll be doing training we’ll be showing them how it’s done, our work flows so that’s exciting,” says Paull.

But they still don’t have enough detox beds and currently can’t even put psych patients on a wait-list because they don’t have the resources. Paull says many times drug addiction and mental health go hand in hand.

A recent grant from Congressman Kennedy and continued fundraising efforts for a brand new 60 bed facility will help work towards solving that. But the road ahead will be long.

“I know that people are getting access to care quicker than they would of had we not had an open access program. While it’s not where I want to be and I want everything done yesterday, we are moving forward,” she says.

Something Paull says she’s seeing for the first time in 40 years is collaboration with primary care doctors and hospitals, something she calls a hopeful sign for the future.